Monthly Archives: February 2005

Closure

Moved electric fencing while Karola fed the sheep a bale of hay. Overcast but the cloud is high, so it’s not unpleasant.

Got confirmation that the 16 acre orchard adjoining our property is ours – that is, contracts were exchanged. We probably paid 8%-10% over a sensible price for it, but Karola’s family have been trying to put the two properties back together since 1948; $600,000 is quite a lot for something that will bring in income of $10,00 – $20,000 a year – but land prices here are fueled by the strong demand for lifestyle blocks and other non-urban residential arrangements. After several days of broken if not sleepless nights, we’re pleased it’s over. I should mention, the orchard property has the right to erect a dwelling on it; while we have no immediate plans to build, the competing purchasers definitely were, and this could have put a big dent in our privacy here.

Weather: 15°C—21°C, WSW avg 4km/h, no rain, cloudy

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The peak’s on fire

After breakfast took 4 visitors to see the top of Tamata Peak – a local high rock outcrop with, on clear days, really spectacular panoramic views of Napier, Hastings, and the bay. We were, however, stopped at the entrance to the Tamata Peak national park and turned back by police. The peak is burning they said; no visiting today. We did see smoke on the slopes as we drove towards the peak, though it seemed to be under control when we got to the gates. An hour later we could see smoke billowing up from 25 km away so I guess the fire wasn’t totally under control.

Sheep are spending one final day on the current section of the Triangle – they’ll need moving tomorrow.

Weather: 15°C—27°C, WSW avg 4km/h, no rain, scatttered cloud and humid

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A little light rain music

In the morning our UK visitors fed the sheep with maize; almost all of the sheep were hungry enough to eat some although it’s the same 3-4 ewes that are aggressive in demanding it and bumping into you to try and get their heads into the maize tin. The lambs are more cautious.

In the afternoon it did rain a little – it may not have rained at all at the weather station in Puketapu, their recording showed nil points – just enough to make some very modest puddles and wet Bicka’s hair.

Weather: 14°C—25°C, NNE avg 3km/h, a smidgen of rain, not even a mm. Mostly cloudy and humid.

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Another nice day

Spent time visiting lawyers re the sale of the orchard next door. Otherwise a quiet day on the smallholding; Karola tended the stock and I fed the bantams and wondered whether to get some geese.

Weather: 12°C—25°C, NNE avg 4km/h, no rain, quite cloudy

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Another nice day

Near full moon the sky is very bright at night – you can see quite clearly – and the stars are a little less bright as a consequence. New Zealand skies are sometimes breathtakingly clear – we have a little light polution from Hastings to the south east and Napier up north, but unless you’re looking quite low in the sky it doesn’t interfere and the stars are magnificent.

Weather: 14°C—27°C, NNW avg 4km/h, no rain,bright and clear

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The sun beats down upon his weary? head

Muscovy duck mother still sitting on her nest of 4 yellow and 2 brown (mostly) ducklings. Same old broken wing routine, but even she got bored with it when I took no notice again.

Karola has the sheep under tight control; they get 1 hour of the electric-fenced grass in the Triangle and then back into their brown parched Top/Middle/Back paddocks. They do have water, of course, in a couple of moveable Python-brand black plastic troughs, but it gets warm and brackish pretty quickly in this weather – and the water lying in the black alkathene pipes above ground – the last 10 metres or so – gets really hot in the sun. Sort of proves how good solar heated water would be – we may get that for the cottage when it’s moved and renovated.

I took the little mulching hand mower and mowed the edges and gateways of the Front paddock, and where the concrete fence stays stick out into the paddock or the corner is too sharp so that I can’t get the landrover-drawn topper onto it. The landrover turning circle is abyssmal, and the topper is so low to the ground that it’s almost impossible to back up – so the topper is for the areas free of obstructions and not needing any fancy manoevering. It was hot mowing, but a welcome break from sitting inside.

The bantams started making a terrible fuss around 7:00pm again; I’ve noticed it several times recently – and tonight I discovered it was the cockerels making unwanted advances on the two older bantam hens – just before going to perch for the night. Well at least it wasn’t anything serious like a stray cat or dog after the chicks.

Our mower man came today and so the lawn areas are looking very tidy – it takes him about 2 hours with a ride-on mower to clean up the areas designated lawn. Mostly the good grass has died away now and we’re left with vigorously growing and unwanted paspalum grass.

Weather: 12°C—26°C, NNE avg 4km/h, no rain,bright and clear and HOT in the afternoon sun

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Muscovites all

.. We were taking back one of Karola’s young helper’s chicken coup this evening and went past the duck nest in the (stinking) iris under the oaks at the edge of the drive. Delightful – 4 yellow and 2 dark brown ducklings – must have hatched over last 24 hours because they were just eggs yesterday. The mother did a dramatic attempt to distract us – dragging her outstretched wings along the drive and quacking as if she were injured – we were not fooled :-). I gave her some chook pellets, but I expect they’ll be off, away from the nest and hopefully to somewhere safe before night.

When I say stinking iris, I think that’s the common name; I’ve never noticed any nasty smell. It’s a fleshy iris-like plant that has dark green leaves and bright orange fruits that grow in pods and when they break the seeds/fruits cover the ground around. As if the fruits weren’t numerous enough, allowing it to quickly colonise new areas as long as there’s not too much competition from other plants, they have rhizomes that are absolutely matted in the leaf litter and down to about 5-6 cm below ground. It’s easy to pull up, doesn’t seem to kill stock (is basically inedible), and isn’t prickly or poisonous to us – ideal from that respect. Iris and periwinkle are our ground cover friends – in particular the stinking iris is good because it is fleshy and doesn’t dry out in the summer heat. That’s the clue as to why it was introduced; houses like ours are flammable and groves of oaks and other deciduous trees – and also the pines and firs – have a lot of tinder-dry litter underfoot. The stinking iris is a biological firebreak.

I erected some more electric fencing on the Triangle. Karola let the sheep spend all day on the top end of the Triangle and reckoned they’d grazed it down nicely – not so hard that it’d take long to recover.

If we want to put in an offer for the adjoining orchard, which has been on the market for the last 3 weeks, we need to do it by Friday.

Weather: 10°C—23°C, NNE avg 5km/h, no rain, most of the day was bright and clear

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Ducks and other feral things

Bicka the beagle ‘found’ a white Muscovy duck sitting on her eggs not a metre from the edge of the driveway, in the thick iris clumps, under the trees. We were together investigating the multiple appearances today of a strange dog – piebald whippet-like animal – not sure where it came from but it seemed at easy loping about the place until Karola or I went outside then it bounded off back down the drive to ‘who knows where’. Maybe it belongs to a neighbour, maybe to one of the 100s of fruit picker transient people. The next door orchard started picking their apples today – that’ll go on till late March.

When I said ‘found’, well Bicka stared at it and had a scent of something to within a foot of the nest, but she didn’t seem to know what it was she had found. In the past Bicka has found pheasant eggs and played with them until they broke and then eaten them – but she seemed not to be aware of the duck just inches away.

Today was 1st day feeding the bantams with pellets rather than ordinary mash – even the chicks ate it up. The 20k bag should last till winter.

Weather: 12°C—23°C, SE avg 3km/h, no rain, overcast and cloudy

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The parched peninsula

Today we drove up through Wairoa to the Mahia peninsula. It is fairly isolated being over an hour from Gisborne and more than 2 hours from Napier. Much of the Napier to Wairoa road is steep, narrow and with sharp bends. The Mahia is an inhospitable rather barren land with combination of wind, sun, salt spray, and steep hills making it hard to farm intensively. Pockets of crops in reclaimed swampy declines are in sharp contrast to the arid brown grazing slopes. The road hugs the coastline much of the way from Wairoa to the Mahia with spectacular rough gravel beaches and yellow-white cliffs. We always see surfcasters patiently waiting for a bite, and last time we saw a convention of surfers (a gaggle, a swoop, a kneecap … – who knows what the collective for surfers is) enjoying the big pacific swells. Goats, but fewer than last year, run over the hills, the road, and the railway – the railway and road follow much the same route up the coast. To our surprise we saw a diesel freight train moving sluglike towards Gisborne – we thought they’d given up rail completely several years ago due to the high track maintenance costs.

Weather: 9°C—26°C, NNE avg 3km/h, no rain, cloudy

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Sultry late summer

Karola has the sheep under a modified regimen to conserve grass and avoid large manure deposits on the Triangle. She lets them into the top of the Triangle each morning for about an hour. They have a good feed and then go back to their free ranging over the Top, Middle, and Back paddocks. They are perking up, though there’s still one runt of a set of triplets looking a bit careworn.

Weather: 12°C—24°C, North avg 5km/h, no rain, some scattered cloud

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Big oaks from little acorns grow

A quiet day on the smallholding. Karola continued her battle with the thistles and other weeds; we continue to water some of the Top paddock – it seems to take about 3 days for some improvement in the grass. Lambs perking up a bit so maybe the drench is starting to take effect.

The ewes just love acorns – and we have them aplenty right now. There are irregular quite loud bangs from the garage and green shed as acorns fall from the Oaks onto their tin roofs. We must have 30 or more . . . (rest got lost somehow)

Weather: 15°C—24°C, North avg 5km/h, no rain, some scattered cloud

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100 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Got up. Fed the bantams. Buried the runtlet lamb. Let off the tethered ewe. Ran out 100m electric fence on the Triangle. Had short training session with Bicka the beagle. Moved the irrigation sprinkler onto a new dry patch. Had breakfast. Don’t know where the rest of the day went. Quite warm.

Weather: 12°C—29°C, NNW avg 4km/h, no rain, scattered cloud

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Which way is up

After a bit of a late start – bookwork till the early hours – I rushed off to Farmlands – they and HB Vet Services just love to see us – and got enough drench for 2 servings for the 21 ewes and 37 lambs. I also got 25kg maize (for the sheep – like sweets, and they come running when we rattle the tin), 25kg wheat and 20kg layers pellets for the (spoiled) bantams – should last us till the winter.

I also tried to get some replacement washers for my #1 drench gun – it squirts stuff back out over your hand as well as forwards into the sheeps gullet, which is wasteful and damp. No joy, but Farmlands will order some in. I do have a #2 drench gun – it came free with the $300 lot of drench last year. This year it’s a smaller quantity – about a litre or 2 – and no free drench gun.

We got all set up, Karola with the maize (ie the ‘carrot’) and me with the rattler made out of a number plate someone had dropped on the road outside our gate – cut into 100mm squares and threaded on some #8 wire., ( the ‘stick’). I must remember, bringing the sheep in from the West works so much better than up from the South. After some fruitless efforts when one old ewe in particular led a breakaway – the others quick to follow – we rearranged things to come in from the better side and got them all penned up.

But I could not get the drench gun to work – this drench is much thicker than yesterday’s stuff and somehow I can’t seem to get a full load down the tube from the bottle upside down on my back into the gun. I went and got the #2 gun – only to find that it, oh cunning drench manufacturer, had a different sized tube so wouldn’t work with this different manufacturers bottle. After a bit of a search I found something that would sortof fit and I thought we’d be back in business. However, as I was swapping caps from the small tube nozzle to the fatter tube nozzle for #2 gun I noticed that it had a tube going down inside the bottle from the cap. Ah Ha!!!! – So far in my experience with drenches and pour-on mixtures to repel flys etc, you hang the bottle upside down from straps on your back and it gravity feeds into the tube that’s attached to the drench gun. NOT SO for this one; it was obviously meant to be used upright – strapped to your back but rightside up. So we rejigged the harness and were off. I redosed the 3 ewes that’d been short changed; we used different coloured dots on yesterday’s lambs and today’s lambs & ewes so perhaps we can tell which drench is more effective – and whether the old stuff from last year was still active.

Barbers Pole worm has a 21-24 day lifecycle and is particularly virulent when it rains after a long hot spell. Typical symptom is that the sheep’s eyes go milky white because the parasite is taking all her blood and she becomes anemic. Didn’t you want to know that?

The runtlet lamb is still alive but even weaker – we gave her small drinks from the ewe we tethered yesterday and then swapped to another ewe with seemingly more milk.

Karola did have one high spot in the day; Californian quail – a pair with six chicks marched across the lawn. Havn’t seen any quail chicks since last year – although there’ve been a few pairs making their characteristic call up in the oak trees and in the iris and brambles in the Back paddock.

Weather: 9°C—28°C, NW avg 5km/h, no rain, scattered cloud

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Skull-diggery

Cooler night but another warm day. Thought I’d get the burying of the dead lamb over with – Karola had been up in the area where we’d left the lamb last night and she said it was dead – when quizzed, she said it was very still. Ah, as Mel Gibson said in Air America, “very calm”. So I went out and dug another hole next to the others in the Island paddock – it’s one way to return nutrients to the soil I suppose. Having finished that I went to retrieve the corpse – but the corpse was moving, albeit weakly!

So, as this lamb was such a fighter we did the irrational and decided to help. Karola rang her brother and they discussed what it might be – especially as, on reflection, almost all the lambs had gone from bouncing, happy, boisterous, fat lambs to rather subdued, thin and bedraggled, daggy ones. Kaz said it’s a serious worm and nemotode infection; time to drench ASAP. So we penned all the sheep up and, starting with the weediest looking lambs, drenched as many as we could before the drench ran out – Karola marking each one we drenched with a red spot. The drench was the remains of a $300 lot I bought over a year ago and shared with Kaz – in fact I swapped it for 1/2 share in a Texel ram called Horace – who visited for a few weeks last year and who sired this year’s crop of lambs.

Weather: 10°C—23°C, NNE avg 4km/h, no rain, some scattered cloud

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Sad little runtlet ewe lamb

Karola took a look at the sheep and we decided to move them back to the Top/Middle/Island paddocks. There hasn’t been a decent rain for weeks now; the patch I put the hose on looks startlingly green in comparison. There’s one poor little lamb – the runt of a triplets – that is getting pretty close to death. Its sad, after battling it out, hanging on for weeks when her brother and sister took all mother’s milk, and the whole flock just pushed her away from any nice nutritious grass. But given our last experience with taking a lamb away for some personal attention, it probably would at best prolong the outcome.

Weather: 13°C—26°C, WSW avg 5km/h, no rain

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Not so gloomy Sunday

Karola fed some hay to the sheep – they had earlier seemed eager to go to new pasture, but that’s just sheep normal behavior – these ones seem to get bored pretty quickly. They ate some but not all, so I guess they’re not exactly starving.

Weather: 15°C—26°C, NW avg 5km/h, no rain – well a few drops only

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.. and another one hits the deck

The sheep are still in the Front paddock which has some grass and a lot of weeds, especially the nasty Bathurst Burr. I can hear the baaing as the lambs enquire where their mum’s have got to – and occasional answering baa. The bad news yesterday was that we lost one ewe and one lamb – possibly both to eating toxic shrubs, not sure. Anyway, they were not the best nor the worst of the bunch and it was a pity to lose them – and a pain to dig yet another hole up in the Island to bury them. The total count of live ones stands at 58; 21 ewes and 37 lambs. Couple of the lambs are really small and not thriving – they’re both the unlucky one of triplets I think, which convinces me that triplets are a very mixed blessing.

Georgeous day, quite warm but gentle breeze and, as for several months now, the cicadas full blast in the trees around the house.

Weather: 17°C—26°C, WSW avg 8km/h, 2mm rain

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Not as in shellfish – clammy

Irrigated some more of the tip of the Triangle paddock. A good soak about 2 weeks ago has made the grass shoot up bright green, contrasting with the faded green and brown of the other paddocks which have dried out as expected in the summer heat. The irrigated patches will give the sheep some lush rations when we move them onto the Triangle in a few days time.

Weather: 18°C—30°C, NNW avg 3km/h, 2mm rain – sultry, muggy, some bright spells, light rain in the evening – and very warm

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Don’t they grow up fast

Counting my chickens (well they have hatched) I see the two chicks have completely changed into adult plumage – no more chick down. They are both a light brown, like one of the mother bantam hens. They can run, they can fly a bit, and they can squawk like anything.

Weather: 19°C—26°C, NNE avg 5km/h, no rain (well just a touch overnight, but well below 1mm)

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If one green bottle …

Checked the flock and found one dead lamb – probaby been dead for 3-4 days. Unpleasant task of burying it – but not nearly as bad as a full grown sheep. Smell etc rather overpowering in the heat and after so long.

One ewe continues to look as if she’s on death’s door, and a couple more lambs are small relative to their cohorts, one looking decidely unwell. The flock had free range over the Back, Middle and Top paddocks while we were away for 7 days; now I’ve moved them to the Front paddock and let them into the Tall Trees road frontage too. They have water, shade, and variety of grasses and herbs – sheep heaven.

Weather: 16°C—27°C, NNE avg 5km/h, no rain

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Beetle mania

Drove back the 308km from Wellington this afternoon.

Arriving home just after dark at about 9;00pm, as we drove down the avenue there was a sound like rain splattering on the windscreen. Not rain, but grass grub beetles (Costelytra zealandica). Most years there’s a couple of days when the grass grubs emerge in force – at night and strongly attracted by light.

Inside at home the pattering continued on the windows, and beetles found their way in in 100s even though windows were
shut. The beetles don’t bite or sting but are just a nuisance – getting in my cup of tea and hair and inside my shirt – in fact everywhere. So we creep off to bed without lights, hoping to reduce the number of visitors sharing the bed.

Weather: 18°C—27°C, NNE avg 3km/h, no rain
=====================================================
For more on the Grass Grub . . .
http://www.forestresearch.co.nz/PDF/Ent43Melolonthine%20beetles.pdf

or

http://www.wrightson.co.nz/knowhow/kh_details.asp?article_id=141
Grass grub (Costelytra zealandica)

Description

* Adults are shiny, light to dark brown beetles, about 10 mm long.
* The larvae or grubs are C-shaped, creamy white and 10-20 mm long. They have soft bodies, light brown heads and three pairs of long legs.
* Adults emergence flights occur from October (Waikato) to mid-December (Southland).
* Females generally mate as soon as they have emerged and lay their fist egg batch close to the emergence point, hence infestations tend to remain localised.
* Eggs are laid in clusters 70-200 mm below the soil surface. The larvae hatch in 16-21 days, depending on soil temperature.
* The first instar larvae start feeding on root immediately after hatching.
* The different larval stages usually move within the soil profile (20-60 mm) during their development, however, if pasture damage is extensive it is possible to find all stages in the top 20-30 mm.

Prevention/Control

* The adult beetles cause little damage to pasture but will feed on the leaves of many brassicas, trees and shrubs.
* Grubs will feed on a wide range of plants and in high areas of infestation it is advised to sow crops or pastures with a granular insecticide (eg chlorpiryphos) as a preventative measure.
* The third instar is probably the most damaging and vulnerable stage, inhabiting the top 20-30 mm during March to June. Numbers can be severely depleted at this stage by heavy grazing to reduce the grubs food supply or by heavy rolling from June onwards.
* Thorough cultivation during spring will cause high mortality of the relatively delicate pupal stage.
* Resistant plant species will suppress grass grub numbers and include lucerne, lotus and phalaris.
* Tall fescue (eg Au Triumph and Vulcan) and cocksfoot (eg Tekapo ) are both tolerant to grass grub feeding.
* The biocide ‘Invade’ may be used for grass grub control.

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Weather To Change

No news from Hastings; weather in Wellington changing from the hot sunny days to overcast with rain.

Weather: 17°C—24°C, NNE avg 4km/h, no rain

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Vines Be Gone

No news today for the Hastings smallholding. Down in Wellington, another hot day of clearing the vines and weeds from our section and from the fringes of the adjoining bush. Helped by our friends and 2 students. Another 3 loads to the landfill. Located a small Totara tree, about a metre tall, among the Beech and other natives.

Weather: 17°C—26°C, NNE avg 5km/h, no rain

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Noxious Climbers

We’re in Wellington today to clear our Days Bay town house garden that is thoroughly overgrown with several officially noxious weeds – climbers that are spreading rapidly and that climb over and suffocate their host: banana passionfruit vines, Japanese honeysuckle, and jasmine vines – not to mention the Tradescantia. A small wasps nest in the middle of the garden didn’t help, although a heavy application of a wasp poison seems to have done the trick. To remove the vines and undergrowth rubbish we made 4 trips with Landrover and 2-tonne trailer to one of the Wellington landfill sites; the nearest is 30 minutes away.

We hired two students to help for the weekend, and will complete the majority of the clearing tomorrow. It will of course all grow again, but next time we’ll not leave it for 2 years before we fight back. The garden, and the bush on the adjoining reserve land, is improved significantly – opened up and looks more spacious – with the vines being removed.

Meanwhile, in Hastings . . .

Weather: 19°C—25°C, NNE avg 9km/h, 1mm rain, warm but cloudy with some drizzle

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Bridget’s Been Moved

Down in Wellington, daughter Bridget moved house today. Coordinating the services, the movers, the cleaners and so on is difficult and stressful – especially when contractors decide to change their dates without telling you. Still, they were 80%+ successful in accomplishing the move today.

Weather in Wellington remains subject to large banks of fog – fairly rare – which have closed the airport for almost all flights for 3 days now, stranding many. When the wind moves the fog away it has been quite hot and sunny. Not like Hawkes Bay . . .

Weather: 19°C—23°C, NNE avg 2km/h, 3mm rain, cloudy with some drizzle

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Wellington Weather Trumps The Bay

Still not a lot of rain but in sharp and unusual contrast to Wellington which sweltered in a hot almost cloudless sky.

Weather: 19°C—24°C, NNE avg 5km/h, 2mm rain, cloudy all day with some drizzle

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A Star No More

Homekill butcher arrived at 7:20am, departed 40 minutes later – Star is no more.

Very light drizzle set in – I think we got more than the recorded 1mm overnight so the grass will respond I’m sure.

Weather: 18°C—22°C, NNE avg 5km/h, 1mm rain, cloudy all day with some drizzle

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Dark, Dank, Dismal Days of Summer

Well it was good for the grass – light rain almost all the time all day.

This evening we talked to the owner of the 3 acres directly opposite us – another person wanting to cash-out at the top of the property boom. Another interesting proposition for us – it has the old stables building that used to be part of this property when it was a racehorse stud. But prices are pretty astronomical.

Bicka is being a real teenage beagle – testing us and our patience all the time – but still we’re very fond of her.

My Internet Service Provider (ISP) sent out a technican today to see what was making it hard for me to connect. Their opinion is that tree branches are getting in the way because, especially when wet, the leaves attenuate the radio signal. I’m partly convinced although when I test the response times from here to the ISP’s local servers it’s excellent. I will perhaps monitor response times to the ISP’s servers and to sites in New Zealand, UK, and USA – and see if it’s the link from the ISP out, or perhaps the international links that is behaving slowly and erratically.

Weather: 18°C—21°C, SSE avg 3km/h, 18mm rain, cloudy all day with drizzle

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